Sony’s Rumored 4K Xperia Z5 Phone Will Not Be Enough

A
recent articleover at PhoneArena references a source revealing
that the upcoming expected Sony Xperia Z5 announcement will not only feature
the Z5 and a Z5 Compact, but also a Z5 Premium with a 5.5 inch 4K display.

The 4K, AKA ‘Ultra-HD’ resolution (2160 x 4096) has been an elusive
unicorn in the smartphone world. Numerous murmurings on the grapevine have
suggested that it would make its debut with this smartphone or that, but none
have proven true. Will the Z5 Premium be any different? Yes or no, the answer
probably won’t matter for Sony.

The short of it

Sony makes great screens already, but they’re often
overlooked thanks to their lower resolution of 1080p (1080 x 1920). These days,
if you’re not rocking 1440 x 2560 (AKA Quad HD) then you’re considered to be
outgunned and outclassed.

This would be an easy problem for Sony to fix – after all it’s
no stranger to display tech – but making the jump all the way up to 4K is
nothing more than a classless marketing gimmick.

Get yourself two good quality screens, one 1080p and one
Quad HD, and put one in each hand. You’ll be hard-pressed to spot the
difference. It’s there, but unless you have better-than-average vision you
probably wouldn’t see a compelling reason to pay more money for one over the
other.

The mobile screen industry is reaching the point where the
human eye really can’t detect much better (Apple would have you believe we
reached that point in 2010 with the Retina Display, but that’s just not the
case). If telling the difference between 1080p and Quad HD is difficult for
some and impossible for others, the only conceivable reason to make the jump to
4K is marketing.

Big numbers grab attention, but forcing out a consumer
product based on big numbers alone often results in a poorer-quality product
than if you’d stuck with more-sensible benchmarks.

If Sony does opt to release a 4K “Xperia Z5 Premium”, you
can expect its display to be lacklustre. That won’t stop people buying it based
on its impressive resolution alone, but it won’t generate customer loyalty or
do much of anything to improve its reputation in the mobile market beyond the
initial marketing hype.

Same old problem

In Sony’s ideal world, its mobile division would be bumping
heads with the likes of Samsung; in the cold light of day it finds itself stuck
in the lower leagues. This is in part thanks to the stranglehold Samsung and
Apple acquired early and have managed to maintain over the public’s
consciousness, but certain recurring flaws in Sony’s product line cannot be
ignored as a contributing factor.

These flaws are like an itch; they begin small, with a
manufacturer falling only slightly behind in one aspect or another. The itch
grows when the shortcoming is not addressed with each successive generation.
Finally, when a tipping point is reached, said manufacturer will often react
with an over-compensation, focusing almost solely on hardware and big,
marketable numbers on a spreadsheet, rather than a thoroughly thought-through
improvement.

Walking the line

There is an unfortunate trend in the Android market
presently, one that is focused on big numbers displayed on a spec sheet, rather
than how a phone’s various features actually function during real-world use.

Go in to any store and ask which Android phone has the best
camera; chances are you’ll be pointed at the one with the highest number of
megapixels (MP). Which has the best screen? Why, the one with the highest
resolution, of course!

This is not actually how you judge quality; Apple
consistently releases 8MP cameras that trounce the 16MP and above offerings
from most of the competition. A slap-dash Quad HD display (1440 x 2560) might
seem crisp, but will have worse colors and vibrancy than a good quality 1080p
(1080 x 1920) contender.

Manufactures must toe a fine line between offering those
high specs, so as to appear to be top of the line at a glance in-store, but
also provide you with a great user experience to ensure positive user reviews
and maintain customer loyalty.

Samsung has learned to walk this line, as has LG and a
handful other manufacturers. Sony is still finding its way.

Sony cameras, Sony screens

Sony has two main problems with its devices right now:

Its cameras have too many megapixels, but aren’t actually
very good

Its screens have a ‘low’ resolution, but are actually
fantastic

The first has not proved to be much of an issue in the
online community. Reviewers and Sony fans alike often seem to tout the Sony
Xperia line as being renowned for its 21MP picture quality. This creates an odd
dichotomy between the online and real-world user. It has been my personal experience
that Xperia owners are often happy with their phones overall, but are rarely
satisfied with their cameras. In fact, I find it’s the number one complaint.

Sony needs to focus on more than just a large megapixel
count in its cameras, and the longer it waits the further it will fall behind
the likes of Apple, Samsung and LG.

Conversely, Sony Xperia screens are fantastic. They may
sport ‘only’ a 1080p resolution; putting them behind the pack in terms of raw
specs; but you wouldn’t notice the difference unless you held one side-by-side
with a more densely-pixelated display. If you did you’d probably notice the
superior fluidity and vibrancy of the Xperia before the resolution disparity
became even remotely apparent.

Unfortunately, there’s that big-number issue. Either when
researching online or asking in-store, you’ll be given the impression that Sony’s
phone screens aren’t up to par because their boast a resolution that was high-end
in 2013, but is now considered second-rate. This is why Sony needs to bump its
core flagship up in resolution; not because it would be much better, but
because it would help sell units.

That resolution does not need to be astronomical. Quad HD
(2560 x 1440) would be perfect. This is the resolution employed in high end
Samsung, LG and other Android flagships at the moment.

Jumping all the way up to 4K would be pointless. It would be
unlikely that the user would fully appreciate the difference between Quad HD
and 4K, but Sony would be making the sacrifices that always come with first-gen
tech like this: decreased color vibrancy, worse contrast, poor visibility
angles, low brightness and even light bleeding around the edges of the screen.
On top of that 4K would require a monumental amount of power compared to a
lower resolution – decreasing battery life noticeably.

With any luck Sony, and everyone else, will stick to Quad HD
for the foreseeable future. 4K will undoubtedly be the standard one day, and
then be surpassed by something even more ludicrous, but for now we’d get a
better product if that R&D money were spent on battery, durability and
camera improvements.

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